Capitalist Mythology: "Free Markets", The State, and Primitive Accumulation

there is a tendency in contemporary political discussions to separate the market from the state certain experts suggest that these two bodies are fundamentally at odds with each other some analyses have even adopted the market state dichotomy as an adequate tool for the classification of economic systems worse than all of that are the so-called libertarian arguments that the state is somehow an obstacle to the natural development of the market if only we could remove the nasty talons of the state from the market all would be well in the world again as for the system most of us live in today well that is in capitalist at best it's some kind of distorted pseudo capitalist structure and at worst it's a grade-a Orwellian socialist dystopia in this video we're going to set the record straight not only has the state and the market overlapped throughout history but capitalism itself heavily depended on the state to create desired economic conditions contrary to what some economists have suggested the conditions that created the capitalist mode of production were not developed naturally one of the most important prerequisites for capitalism is the establishment of a class of people who depend on selling their labor power as a means of subsistence this class did not develop organically but rather through force and deliberate construction as Marx found in the early stages of capitalist development in England proletarianization occurred as a result of explicit policies of expropriation which privatized and concentrated lands in the hands of an increasingly smaller class of people the enclosure acts pursued by the state were aimed at systematically separating small landholders from their lands and forcing them into a life based on wages this transition was not by any means seamless in order to occur overnight resistance to state enforcement of expropriation was fierce as was the state's response to those who did not appreciate the new direction the process by which the masses were separated from the means of production and forced into wage labor is known as primitive accumulation primitive accumulation also refers to the capture of land and resources for the purpose of producing and reproducing capital the construction of the capitalist mode of production through primitive accumulation was not strictly economic cultural and intellectual forays had made to develop a new industrious proletarian class ideologically equipped to accept the new work regime under capitalism whereas some theorists suggest that primitive accumulation is a one-time transitionary period from pre-capitalist conditions to the capitalist mode of production others argue that primitive accumulation continues in some form well after capital has comfortably established itself as the dominant socio-economic force David Harvey's accumulation by dispossession refers to the idea that primitive accumulation is never truly completed that the complete development of the capitalist mode of production does not give way to the natural end of primitive accumulation rather primitive accumulation is a process that continues throughout capitalist cycles especially when capitalism is faced with the crisis of over accumulation we have seen numerous instances of primitive accumulation in recent decades even in so-called developed economies a popular method of accumulation through extra economic means is privatization which was widely enforced in the 90s through global structural adjustment policies and the liberalisation of the former Soviet bloc the state was actively involved in parceling out public assets into private hands during this period let's consider a case where the state took active part in creating favorable market conditions for the private sector the capitalist class in Botswana used the state as a mechanism to carry out primitive accumulation during the late 70s and 80s the result was a shift from decentralized property ownership to concentrated means of production in the hands of a dominant class the tribal grazing land policy tgd LP gave advantages to commercial agriculture and forced many small farmers into the city where employment was already scarce the TJ LP was successful in destroying the pre-capitalist hurting economy and founded in its place a desperate labor force desperate small farmers turned to the cities for work since they could no longer make a living on their family farms but this influx of workers caused numerous problems Botswana experienced prolonged crises of unemployment with the unemployment rates in 1985 effectively reaching 39% many people were forced to engage in migratory labour primarily in South Africa whose capital and economic presence has dominated the region since the colonial era Botswana's agricultural economy was directly forged by the TG LP a vast majority of the families in the cattle industry owned very few herds while a small number of herders owned disproportionately large chunks of cattle structural adjustment and privatization policies in general have not helped the inequalities but have instead exacerbated them across industries government subsidies have also targeted large farmers over smaller ones of course the market played an important role in the accumulation process globalized beef markets helped create a pressure that pushed small hurting families out of the agricultural sector the same forces had the opposite effect on elite cattle herders who saw their relative shares and ownership of cattle expand because the economic elite in the cattle industry have either been closely tied to the political elite or have simply made up most of it these changes really defy the power of the elite agricultural class in the government a deliberate attempts on the part of the government to encourage a commercialization of the cattle industry or a central factor in cementing a powerful hurting elite class a high demand from largely European markets provided the justification and pressure needed to transform traditional camino herding into commercial production increased demand from foreign markets thanks to globalization brought in lots of revenue for the country but at the cost of appropriating many non-commercial ranches resulting in deeper inequality in the agricultural sector Botswana has been painted by liberal economists and political analysts as the poster child of liberal success in Africa experts point to Botswana's rapid economic growth as an indication that market-oriented policies are preferable over the route of nationalization many other African countries took in the 20th century the truth however is that pots Juana's free-market success has cost many of its people their livelihoods moreover none of that progress could have been achieved without the deep involvement of the state the separation of people from their own lands and property has only been possible through force and Botswana's path to a capitalist economy demonstrates that clearly we have primarily been looking at how the state is involved in creating conditions for the free market on a domestic level however colonialism and imperialism were also economically impossible without the power of the state European colonizers opened new markets by force with trading companies relying on the intervention of the military to ensure a smooth economic operation to this very day capitalists use the state to secure profits cheap labor and resources abroad though the strategy is not as overt as it once was the influence of corporate leadership on trade agreements and global financial institutions is substantial multinational corporations moved their facilities overseas specifically based on agreements with host countries to prevent increased regulation and labor legislation in summary when we are told to harken back to the good old times before the state got so involved in the economy we should ask what times no such times I've ever existed in the distant or recent past we might go as far as to say that the idea of a free market is completely unfounded never has the market been free of state intervention on the contrary private actors have called on the state repeatedly to coerce existing conditions into more favorable ones the truth is that we all know what free market advocates really mean when they say that we need limited government limited when it comes to services and support for the people generous and unconditional when it comes to protecting private interests we've reached the end of today's video a special thanks to all the channels patrons if you want to support the Marxist project check out the patreon link in the description thanks for watching and until next time remember the Philosopher's have only interpreted the world in various ways the point is to change it

Channel: The Marxist Project

Views: 7,418

Rating: 4.9182391 out of 5

Keywords: capitalism, socialism, marxism, primitive accumulation, accumulation by disposession, david harvey, marx, politics, economics, political economy, communism, free markets, marxist theory

Id: phZyqdNuYsY

Length: 8min 19sec (499 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 18 2019

Reddit Comments

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Videos like this kinda makes me want to start my own channel.